08 November 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Nigeria will be spending a total of US$57.6 billion to expand its crude distillation units, CDU, or crude oil refining capacity by 2.003 million barrels per day, bpd, between now and 2022, statistics from GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, have shown.

According to the report, Nigeria falls among the top ten countries with new refineries in the pipeline.

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, last week hinted that two out of the 38 modular refineries projects approved by the government would be inaugurated in December this year: one in Delta State and the other in Rivers State, to boost fuel supply in the country.

According to the GlobalData report, China topped the list of countries expected to increase refining capacities with ten new-build refineries scheduled to come on line by 2022. The country leads global refinery capacity expansion and investments with 3.12 million bpd additional refining capacity and US$67.3 billion capital expenditure through 2022, followed by Nigeria and Kuwait. The top ten countries in this regard also include Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Saudi Arabia, GlobalData report showed.

Kuwait will add 615,000 bpd of CDU capacity by 2022, and is expected to spend US$7.5 billion through 2022.

Total refining capacity in the world is expected to grow by 15.1 percent between 2018 and 2022, with global CDU capacity expected to grow 117 million bpd by 2022, according to the report.

Asia will lead the globe with the highest CDU capacity of 5.4 million bpd in 2022, followed by Africa and the Middle East with 3.2 million bpd and 2.7 million bpd, respectively.

On capital expenditure or CapEx, Asia will again be the leader with expected CapEx for new build refineries of US$194.9 billion, followed by Africa and the Middle East, with US$126.6 billion and US$87.1 billion, respectively, the report estimated.